Hi. I figured I would start off the June thread with a birth story! DD2 was born last Saturday. What a whirlwind - but we are all doing well.

As I've mentioned before, DD1 was a 33-week premie, so this pregnancy was monitored and had a lot of precautions to avoid that this time around. DD2 was born at 36 1/2 weeks, so I was happy to have made it that far.

Felt fine on Friday, even though it was terribly hot. Took the day off of work to go to the beach with DD1 and have some mommy-daughter time. Little did I know how timely that would be! Got up to go to the bathroom at 2:45am ( like I always do a few times a night!), got back in bed and 10 minutes later my water broke. Very definitively I may add! Sprung out of bed and went into "go-time" mode. Called my mom who came over to be with DD. I took a shower and by the time she got there, we were ready to go. My first labor was fast, so we didn't linger around. Bags were all packed and already in the car. And thank God no traffic at 3:30am on a Saturday! Made it to Brigham & Women's around 4:15 and contractions had intensified and gotten about 1-2 minutes apart. Quickly moved from triage to labor&delivery once they checked me and I was 6cm. My biggest fear at that point was that I was going to miss my epidural. I had no interest in going without one - I hate pain! Things moved really fast and the epidural was done. I could feel DD moving into the birth canal as they were putting the epi in my back. Not fun! As soon as the epi was in it was push time. Baby's heartrate was not tolerating the contractions and kept going down. I did not want an emergency c-section, so I went into some crazy-hyper pushing mode. They put an oxygen mask on me and I pushed like crazy and she was born in about 4 contractions and 10 minutes after my epidural! 3 hours almost to the minute after my water broke at home. I pushed so hard I even broke a small blood vessel on my face! But she is absolutely perfect and weighed in at 6 pounds 1 ounce and we are just simply overjoyed.

I've never had the experience of bringing home a 2-day old before, so a lot of things this week have felt like first-time parent things even though it is my second child. DD1 was in the NICU for 22 days after birth and this is a whole new world. In a good way. I'm overwhelmed by how lucky we are to have the miracle of a happy healthy baby!

I hope everyone else is doing well. Siena - not much longer for you too! SSbride - those are awesome weights for twins! Simply amazing!

You've reminded me to ask--for those who already have one child, what are your plans for that child while you're in labor? We haven't made one, and we have a little time, but should be thinking about it. All of our parents live 3 or more hours away, and while we have lots of friends in the area, none of them are people that my DD really knows well or has spent that much time with.

thistle, you might want to consider having one of those friends get to know your daughter more to be your go-to person. Or, is there a family member, perhaps retired, flexible enough to come up for a week or two around your due date? Do you have a regular sitter or a daycare teacher who could be of help? With our second, it was supposed to be a planned c-section, but I went into labor 2 weeks before that. We happened to be that exact moment testing out a new sitter with DS as I wanted to have a more regular sitter to help out iwth the two of them. She was able to stay until my parents could drive up from CT (about 2 hours away). You might consider using a resource like Care.com or Sittercity to see if you can meet and interview some potential sitters, maybe try them out a bit during the pregancy, and find one ot be your go-to person when labor hits.

I ended up with an induction, which was easier for our older DD, but our plan was an immediate alert to grandma (90 minutes away) and two friends and a babysitter on call in case we needed to go NOW. I didn't want to have to use a friend because the ones who were very near don't know DD that well, but I would have known she was safe until grandma got there, even if she wasn't happy. Oh, and we had some ice cream and some of her shows on the DVR in case there was a rough patch. :)

We do have a regular babysitter, and in some ways she would be the obvious person to ask because she knows my DD pretty well. I just have been weirdly hesitant about it--somehow it seems like a huge imposition to ask her, although of course we would pay her for her time. I also know she has other regular babysitting gigs in addition to her full time job, so I don't know her availability, but we should probably talk to her.

The other issue, of course, is which of our parents we put on call for this. But that DH and I will just have to sort out between ourselves!

ALS - Congrats... what a great story. I can't believe it happened so fast! Good for you for some serious pushing.. hope your face is ok now :-) So thrilled that your DD2 was born healthy and while still a little early, big enough and strong enough to come home right away!

We are going the route of a planned C-section, but with MM379's post, I am reminded that doesn't necessarily mean I won't go into labor. I was almost 2 weeks late with DS and decided planned c-section as he was measuring 10lbs and I was not even a hair dilated, but I guess that makes no difference on any future labor plans. My in-laws are thankfully only 15 minutes away and would definitely be the folks we'd call - as they will be if we are able to go with our planned plans too. My MIL will hopefully stick around too those first two weeks when I can't drive and/or lift much. She's really great this way and I'm so thrilled to have her.

In fact, its my DH and MIL's birthday tonight - so we are going to brave the deluge and do their annual birthday dinner this evening. Hope everyone stays dry. I'll take 3-5 inches of rain over the 98 degrees of last weekend any day!

The Bump and various sites have those pregnancy checklists and I've seen "interview pediatricians " on there. Has anyone done that? When do you start? And do you just call the office, say you're pregnant, and ask to meet with the doctor? I don't think I've ever really interviewed doctors for myself! (And then end up with the hassle of switching when it's not a good fit.)

We did that - I think pediatricians' offices are used to it, so they won't be surprised by your call. Ours only does certain days/times - they were at 5 PM or something. Also, we got recommendations first and just set up one visit. I guess if we hadn't liked him, we would have set up a visit with someone else at that time.

it's not necessary, but it was nice to have it settled and not have to figure it out lateR. Also, they will want to know in the hospital who your pedi is, so it's nice to have a ready answer. You could also pick a pedi without meeting in person, but I would still call their office, make sure they take your insurance and are accepting new patients and whatnot.

WPP - absolutely. Our first pediatrician's office had appointment hours specifically for that purpose. I would highly recommend doing it. If you call and office and they don't respond positively to that request, I'd probably move on! Good luck!

WPP - Ditto on the pediatrician's interview. The practice we bring DS to has set times that they do interviews too. I ended up going with the only doctor we interviewed because I liked the office hours and he and DH have similar interests in common. You end up spending a lot of time with your pedi (DS has gone 5 times in 6 weeks) so you might as well get along with them.

WPP, if I were pg I'd DEFINITELY interview pedis. I'm extremely nutrition conscious, into alternative medicine when it makes sense to me, PRO vaccine, anti prescription meds unless it's really the only way, etc. I'd want to start off seeing a pedi with a philosophy that complements my own, not one I'd be in a constant tug of war with.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for the thoughts of meeting pedis--when did you start your interviews? I'm at 21 weeks, so we have some time. DH wants to choose a pedi in the building where he works (convenience), but I've had really distasteful experiences with my own medical stuff there. We'll see!

WPP - I think the midwives started asking me at my appointments at like 26 weeks or something but I didn't actually do the interview until maybe 6 weeks before? They just like to put the pediatrican's name in your chart, but it wasn't relevant for us because he wasn't credentialed in the hospital I delivered at. DS saw attending physicians from Childrens Hospital while we were there and they faxed everything over to our pedi.

WPP - I didn't schedule an interview (with a highly recommedned pedi) until around 38/39 weeks and wound up having my DD before it! Luckily, she ended up being perfect for me. I would not recommend waiting like I did though!

ALS - Congrats and best wishes!

AFM - I am so annoyed. At my first prenatal last week, they told me that my urine sample showed I have a UTI and and GBS-positive (URGH!). So I get a script for an antiobiotic. It's been YEARS since I've taken an antiobiotic, and I'm not happy at all to be taking something in my first trimester, but of course I don't want a kidney infection. Yesterday, I finished it and realized I now have a yeast infection. Looking up the antibiotic, I realize this is a major side effect. URGH! So annoyed that the midwife didn't tell me that this might be the case and to eat lots of yogurt or something. So I try calling the office to make sure I can start OTC meds for the yeast infection (no drug interactions, etc) and the line are busy - ALL DAY!! And today still! So now I am going to have to go down there and talk to them because they don't have an email address and something is clearly wrong with their phone lines. I tried talking to a pharmacist last night and they wouldn't make a recommendation, so I didn't start the meds and I am in major discomfort.

On the bright side I'm approved to try a VBA2C! :) And I have my NT scan / materniti21 test next week when I am 12 weeks. Very exciting that we might be announcing soon!

Trouble, Yay for the VBAC2 approval! So exciting! I had a VBAC with DS, and while I know that everyone has their own opinion and experience, I found it to be SO MUCH BETTER than the C-section for me, both in birth experience and recovery. And my C-section was planned, so as far as C-sections go, it was about as good as you can get.

Trouble, blah. I guess you probably want to check for yourself, but I took the OTC meds for yeast infection when I was pregnant. (The creams or capsules you insert, not the oral meds. Not sure if the oral ones are OTC now or not - they make me sick so I don't use them.) They just tell you not to put the applicator in too far because you'll irritate the cervix. GL! There is nothing more annoying than not being able to get through to your doctor's office on the phone.

Trouble, that sounds hugely obnoxious. Yeast infections are the worst; I get them regularly. I also had one around 13 weeks and they told me to do the monistat 5 or 7 day. Hope you can get through soon!

Trouble, yeast infections are always a possible side effect of antibiotics, as I understand. The antibiotics disrupt normal balance of things, so to speak, and can also attack the good bacteria that keep things in balance. My OB also recommended Monistat 7 as pregnancy safe.

AFM, I seem to be at the insomnia stage of pregnancy and it is driving me nuts! I'm exhausted but I just can't get comfortable enough to sleep through the night. ANd then I crash and need a nap during the day. It is really annoying. Sleeping is usually something I'm exceptionally good at, so it's an unusual problem for me to have... :p

Trouble, ugh :( I also did antibiotics for GBS early in my pregnancy and was worried about that exact thing--luckily I dodged that bullet. I hope you've gotten an answer from the doctor and are on the meds now!

Siena, I'm also having some trouble sleeping. This time around I invested in a pregnancy pillow and it helps a lot.

Probiotics after any anti-biotics will restore the killed good flora! I take Dr. Natura's for its plethora of different strains.

ETA: Taking them regularly, not just after anti-biotics, should keep yeast infections at bay. They also strengthen your immune system and help keep you regular. And, taking them in capsule form doesn't give you the calories of yogurt, and, besides, my aunt (chiropractor/nutritionist) said the yogurt isn't a good source, anyway.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

thistleflower--yeah i've heard those pillows are great and I had resolved to get one if I was having sleep trouble. But now at 38 weeks & change, it doesn't seem worth i to make the investment. I guess I should count my lucky stars that I didn't have too much sleep trouble until now. Still, I gave in and have a cup of tea in front of me so I can power through a couple more hours of work tonight. (I've been pretty restrictive with caffeine during pregnancy, but hopefully this baby won't mind a little tea at this point...)

Hi Ladies - I finally go through to my practice on Friday - their phones had been down for 3 days. Yikes! Monistat 7 it is. Sigh. I can't wait to be done with it.

Luv - I might pick your brain more as time goes on about VBAC. Both my c-secs were super easy recoveries, so I'm a bit worried about trying a VBAC, and failing, and still needing a cs anyway. I hear recovery from a situation where you labor and then have a cs is very difficult. I think I remember your #1 was breech? So was mine and I only labored for about 2 hours with her (my water broke and then emergency cs) and with my son they wouldn't induce me so scheduled cs at 40 weeks when he didn't come on his own. This time they also won't induce me and I need to schedule a cs for 41 weeks. So all this to say I'll basically be no different that a FTM!